Maybe It's Better
by RAGbag
Summary: [oneshot] Ed, Al, and Winry go for a walk in the woods, and Al thinks about being alone.


Hello, and welcome to my first story/oneshot/thing here at fanfiction! ...wow, that sounded cheesy.

Anyhoo, a little about the story. The only pairing here is EdxWinry. Very light EdxWinry. And when I say light, I mean veeeeery light. Also, this is told from Alphonse's perspective, and takes place in that happy little AU where Al is human and he and Ed and Winry all live together happily ever after. Right.

Please enjoy the story!

**Disclaimer:** (I am supposed to do one of these, right?) I don't own FMA. (So creative!)

---

So here I am, in a rather compromising position. Or rather, here _we _are.

Somehow, my brother, Winry, and I managed to get ourselves stuck in the hollow base of a tree. An extremely tiny hollow base, I might add. Currently, I am lying on the ground, my head touching one end of the wall and my feet bending up to touch the other. Winry is basically lying on my lap. I think that's part of her head in my mouth, and I'm pretty sure that her foot is in Brother's face.

It's Brother's position that's making me most uncomfortable, though; he's sitting up against the wall, his hands spread out on the tree trunk to give him balance. He has his normal leg latched around Winry's back (so it's lying on my stomach) and his metal leg under my back. Which does not make it comfortable for me. Not in the least.

And it's dark.

And it's cold.

And none of us can move.

And it's just started to rain.

You may be wondering how we got into this position in the first place. Well…

--- A Couple of Hours Prior ---

The scene is thus: Brother is lying on the couch (in his usual sloppy manner) reading an alchemy book. I am on the floor, playing with Den. Winry has just walked in the room and has proceeded to stare out the window.

The silence is broken.

"Do you want to on a walk together?" Winry asks quietly as she turns to look at my brother and me.

Ed puts down his book and stares at her in return.

I stop petting Den for a moment to say, "But the sky. It looks like it's going to storm soon."

The book is picked up by an automail hand. Ed has returned to reading.

"That's exactly it!" Winry exclaims. "We should go now, before the storm comes. Don't you want to get some fresh air?"

Once again the book is returned to its resting position. Brother nods.

"I guess it would be nice to get outside for a bit, right Al?" He looks down at me.

I in turn look up at Winry. "We have been inside all day. Sure, why not?"

"Yeah!" Winry stretches. "Let's go!" she says, a huge smile on her face.

--- On the Walk, in the Woods ---

Winry leads the way, with Ed and me walking behind her. My attention has wandered to various things in the forest – trees, flowers, plants, the state of the stormy sky. Brother's attention has stayed fixed to the back of Winry's head. I store this information away for later reference.

An excited exclamation brings me back to the ground. "Hey, guys! Over here!"

Brother's gaze leads me to the spot. Winry is pointing excitedly to an old tree with a hollow at the base of the trunk.

"Remember this place?"

Brother nods. "Yeah. We always used to hide in there as kids, didn't we?" He points to the hollow.

"Really?" I frown a bit. "I think I might remember that…" My voice trails off. It's obvious that I remember none of it.

"Well, come on!" Winry says. "Maybe you'll remember if you go in."

So I lead the way into the hollow, with Ed and Winry filing in behind me. And my memory does start to come back; but I have to say, things sure seem a lot bigger when you're a lot smaller.

This is one of those situations.

Somehow we all manage to squeeze into the hollow, when the unexpected happens. A huge clap of thunder resounds in the sky, causing Winry to jump (she falls on me), forcing me to the ground, which makes her foot fly up (hitting brother's face), then Brother loses his balance, which, as you may have noticed, puts us in the position I was telling you about.

A flash of lightning illuminates the area.

And it's dark.

And it's cold.

And none of us can move.

And it's just started to rain.

And now let's add to that, we're in a dead tree in the middle of a thunderstorm, with a guy who has limbs made of metal.

Somehow, this just doesn't seem very safe to me.

I start to say, "Nii-san," but it comes out more like "Nier-shahn," due to the fact that I'm talking through a mouthful of Winry's head.

Realization starts to dawn on Brother's face – whether because of Winry's foot or the flash of lightning outside, I'm not really sure.

"We've got to get out of here," my brother declares. Great observation, Ed. The only question now, is how?

For the next few minutes, Brother and Winry are trying to disentangle themselves from each other. This gives me some time for reflection.

And then it hits me, as fast as the lightning bolt hits the sky. The reason why Winry had wanted to go on a walk was to get us all out of the house, doing something together. Even though we were all there, we were alone. Stuck in a house together, but alone.

Now we're stuck again. This time in much closer quarters, but we're still stuck. And maybe, despite the thunderstorm and the discomfort, maybe it's better this way. At least we're stuck together (and not alone).

I am snapped out of my philosophic reverie by Brother's voice saying, "C'mon Al, get outta there already. What're you waiting for?"

Apparently, Brother and Winry have already managed to get out of the tree. I look out at them, standing in the rain, together and alone, and I think it to myself again.

_Maybe it's better this way._


End file.
